x 024 deconstructivist architecture
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Deconstructivist archi
Libeskind's Imperial War
intersecting curved volumes.
Main article: Deconstructivis
Deconstructivism in architect
the late 1980s. It is characteran interest in manipulating
Euclidean geometry,[16]
(i.e.,
some of the elements of arc
appearance of buildings that
stimulating unpredictability a
Important events in the histo
la Villette architectural desig
Peter Eisenman[17]
and Bern
1988 Deconstructivist Archite Mark Wigley, and the 1989
designed by Peter Eisenman
Daniel Libeskind, Rem Kool
Bernard Tschumi. Since the
Deconstructivism have dista
stuck and has now, in fac
architecture.
Deconstructivism is a develop
influenced by the theory of "De by fragmentation, an interest i
which appear to distort and disl
finished visual appearance of
unpredictability and controlled
tecture
useum North in Manchester comprises
ure is a development ofpostmodern archite
ized by ideas of fragmentation, non-linear pideas of a structure's surface or skin, a
non-rectilinear shapes) which serve to di
hitecture, such as structure and envelope.
exhibit the many deconstructivist "styles" is
nd a controlled chaos.
ry of the deconstructivist movement includ
n competition (especially the entry from J
ard Tschumi's winning entry), the Museu
cture exhibition in New York, organized by opening of the Wexner Center for the
. The New York exhibition featured work
haas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Coop
exhibition, many of the architects who we
nced themselves from the term. Nonethel
, come to embrace a general trend wit
ent of postmodern architecture that began in
construction", which is a form ofsemiotic analysn manipulating a structure's surface or skin, n
ocate elements of architecture, such as structu
buildings that exhibit deconstructivist "styles"
haos.
1
three apparently
cture that began in
rocesses of design, nd apparent non-
tort and dislocate
The finished visual
characterised by a
e the 1982 Parc de
cques Derrida and
of Modern Art's
Philip Johnson and Arts in Columbus,
s by Frank Gehry,
Himmelblau, and
re associated with
less, the term has
hin contemporary
the late 1980s. It is
is. It is characterized n-rectilinear shapes
e and envelope. The
is characterized by
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Libeskind's Imperial War Mus
architecture comprising thre
destruction ofwar.
History
Deconstructivism came to pu
competition (especially the e
Tschumi's winning entry), th
exhibition in New York, organ
of the Wexner Center for the
exhibition featured works by
Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)
associated with Deconstructi
has stuck and has come to e
Misconceptions
Bernard Tschumi stated that
competed for the Parc de la
showed a lack of understandi
simply a move against the pr
temple forms out of plywood
Gallery
Alpine Deconstructivi
eum North in Manchester. A prime example
fragmented, intersecting curved volumes w
blic notice with the 1982 Parc de la Villette
ntry from Jacques Derrida and Peter Eisen
Museum of Modern Arts 1988 Deconstru
ized by Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley, an
Arts in Columbus, designed by Peter Eisen
Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolha
au, and Bernard Tschumi. Since the exhibiti
ism have distanced themselves from it. No
brace a general trend within contemporary
calling the work of the architects who exh
illette a "movement" or a new "style" was
ing of their ideas. Tschumi believed that De
ctice ofPostmodernism, which he said invo
".[citation needed]
m in Kitzbhel, Austria, by Christine & Horst
2
of deconstructivist
hich symbolise the
rchitectural design
an[1]
and Bernard
ctivist Architecture
the 1989 opening
an. The New York
s, Peter Eisenman,
n, some architects
etheless, the term
architecture.
ibited in 1988 and
out of context and
constructivism was
lved "making doric
Lechner
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Gnter Domenig' s "Steinhaus" at Lake Ossiach, Austria
Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry, Weil am Rhein, Germany
UFA-Palast in Dresden, Germany, by Coop Himmelb(l)au
Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry, Los Angeles, California
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry, in Bilbao, Spain
History, context and influences
Modernism and postmodernism
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Seattle Central Library by Rem K
Deconstructivism in contem
Modernism and Postmoder
architects both published in t
contents mark a decisive br
confrontational stance to ar
While postmodernism return
shunned, possibly ironically,
references, as well as the ide
In addition to Oppositions, a
was Robert Venturi's Comple
the purity, clarity and simpl
rationalism, the two main b
reading of the postmodernis
richness to architecture th
endeavored to reapply orna
Venturi as "the decorated sh
of the building was still somwork,
[3]that signs and ornam
philosophic complexities ofs
The deconstructivist reading
building was the subject o
detachment for ornament.
postmodernists such as Ve
question. Geometry was to
subject of complication, and
functional, structural, and sdeconstructivist complexity i
oolhaas and OMA
orary architecture is opposed to the ord
nism. Though postmodernist and nasce
he journal Oppositions (between 1973 and 1
eak between the two movements. Decon
chitectural history, wanting to "disassem
ed to embrace the historical references th
deconstructivism rejected the postmodern
of ornament as an after-thought or decora
defining text for both deconstructivism a
xity and Contradiction in architecture (1966
licity of modernism. With its publication,
ranches of modernism, were overturned
t Venturi was that ornament and historic
at modernism had foregone. Some Post
ent even to economical and minimal buil
d." Rationalism of design was dismissed bu
what intact. This is close to the thesis of V ent can be applied to a pragmatic architec
miology.[citation needed]
of Complexity and Contradiction is quite d
problematics and intricacies in deconst
. Rather than separating ornament a
nturi, the functional aspects of buildings
deconstructivists what ornament was to p
this complication of geometry was in tu
patial aspects of deconstructivist buildingFrank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum in We
4
ered rationality of
t deconstructivist
984), that journal's
structivism took a
le" architecture.[2]
at modernism had
cceptance of such
ion.[citation needed]
nd postmodernism
). It argues against
functionalism and
as paradigms. The
l allusion added a
modern architects
ings, described by
t the functionalism
nturi's next major ure, and instill the
ifferent. The basic
uctivism, with no
nd function, like
were called into
ostmodernists, the
rn, applied to the
. One example of il-am-Rhein, which
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takes the typical unadorned white cube of modernist art galleries and deconstructs it, using
geometries reminiscent of cubism and abstract expressionism. This subverts the functional
aspects of modernist simplicity while taking modernism, particularly the international style,
of which its white stucco skin is reminiscent, as a starting point. Another example of the
deconstructivist reading ofComplexity and Contradiction is Peter Eisenman's Wexner Center
for the Arts. The Wexner Center takes the archetypal form of the castle, which it then
imbues with complexity in a series of cuts and fragmentations. A three-dimensional grid,
runs somewhat arbitrarily through the building. The grid, as a reference to modernism, of
which it is an accoutrement, collides with the medieval antiquity of a castle. Some of the
grid's columns intentionally don't reach the ground, hovering over stairways creating a
sense of neurotic unease and contradicting the structural purpose of the column. The
Wexner Center deconstructs the archetype of the castle and renders its spaces and
structure with conflict and difference.[citation needed]
Deconstructivist philosophy
Some Deconstructivist architects were influenced by the French philosopher Jacques
Derrida. Eisenman was a friend of Derrida, but even so his approach to architectural design
was developed long before he became a Deconstructivist. For him Deconstructivism should
be considered an extension of his interest in radical formalism. Some practitioners of
deconstructivism were also influenced by the formal experimentation and geometric
imbalances of Russian constructivism. There are additional references in deconstructivism
to 20th-century movements: the modernism/postmodernism interplay, expressionism,
cubism, minimalism and contemporary art. Deconstructivism attempts to move away from
the supposedly constricting 'rules' of modernism such as " form follows function," "purity of
form," and "truth to materials."[citation needed]
The main channel from deconstructivist philosophy to architectural theory was through the
philosopher Jacques Derrida's influence with Peter Eisenman. Eisenman drew some
philosophical bases from the literary movement Deconstruction, and collaborated directly
with Derrida on projects including an entry for the Parc de la Villette competition,
documented in Chora l Works. Both Derrida and Eisenman, as well as Daniel Libeskind[4]
were concerned with the "metaphysics of presence," and this is the main subject of
deconstructivist philosophy in architecture theory. The presupposition is that architecture is
a language capable of communicating meaning and of receiving treatments by methods of
linguistic philosophy.[5]
The dialectic of presence and absence, or solid and void occurs inmuch of Eisenman's projects, both built and unbuilt. Both Derrida and Eisenman believe that
the locus, or place of presence, is architecture, and the same dialectic of presence and
absence is found in construction and deconstructivism.[6]
According to Derrida, readings of texts are best carried out when working with classical
narrative structures. Any architectural deconstructivism requires the existence of a
particular archetypal construction, a strongly-established conventional expectation to play
flexibly against.[7]
The design of Frank Gehrys own Santa Monica residence, (from 1978),
has been cited as a prototypical deconstructivist building. His starting point was a
prototypical suburban house embodied with a typical set of intended social meanings.
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Gehry altered its massing, spatial envelopes, planes and other expectations in a playful
subversion, an act of "de"construction"[8]
In addition to Derrida's concepts of the metaphysics of presence and deconstructivism, his
notions of trace and erasure, embodied in his philosophy of writing and arche-writing[9]
found their way into deconstructivist memorials. Daniel Libeskind envisioned many of hisearly projects as a form of writing or discourse on writing and often works with a form of
concrete poetry. He made architectural sculptures out of books and often coated the
models in texts, openly making his architecture refer to writing. The notions of trace and
erasure were taken up by Libeskind in essays and in his project for the Jewish Museum
Berlin. The museum is conceived as a trace of the erasure of the Holocaust, intended to
make its subject legible and poignant. Memorials such as Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans
Memorial and Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe are also said to
reflect themes of trace and erasure.
Constructivism and Russian Futurism
Another major current in deconstructivist architecture takes inspiration from the Russian
Constructivist and Futurist movements of the early twentieth century, both in their graphics
and in their visionary architecture, little of which was actually constructed.
Artists Naum Gabo, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, and Alexander Rodchenko, have
influenced the graphic sense of geometric forms of deconstructivist architects such as Zaha
Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Both Deconstructivism and Constructivism have been
concerned with the tectonics of making an abstract assemblage. Both were concerned with
the radical simplicity of geometric forms as the primary artistic content, expressed ingraphics, sculpture and architecture. The Constructivist tendency toward purism, though, is
absent in Deconstructivism: form is often deformed when construction is deconstructed.
Also lessened or absent is the advocacy ofsocialist and collectivist causes.
The primary graphic motifs of constructivism were the rectangular bar and the triangular
wedge, others were the more basic geometries of the square and the circle. In his series
Prouns, El Lizzitzky assembled collections of geometries at various angles floating free in
space. They evoke basic structural units such as bars of steel or sawn lumber loosely
attached, piled, or scattered. They were also often drafted and share aspects with technical
drawing and engineering drawing. Similar in composition is the deconstructivist seriesMicromegas by Daniel Libeskind.
The symbolic breakdown of the wall effected by introducing the Constructivist motifs of
tilted and crossed bars sets up a subversion of the walls that define the bar itself. ...This
apparent chaos actually constructs the walls that define the bar; it is the structure. The
internal disorder produces the bar while splitting it even as gashes open up along its length.
Phillip Johnson and Mark Wigley, Deconstructive Architecture, p.34
Contemporary art
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Two strains of modern art, minimalism and cubism, have had an influence on
deconstructivism. Analytical cubism had a sure effect on deconstructivism, as forms and
content are dissected and viewed from different perspectives simultaneously. A
synchronicity of disjoined space is evident in many of the works ofFrank Gehry and Bernard
Tschumi. Synthetic cubism, with its application of found art, is not as great an influence on
deconstructivism as Analytical cubism, but is still found in the earlier and more vernacular
works of Frank Gehry. Deconstructivism also shares with minimalism a disconnection from
cultural references.
With its tendency toward deformation and dislocation, there is also an aspect of
expressionism and expressionist architecture associated with deconstructivism. At times
deconstructivism mirrors varieties of expressionism, neo-expressionism, and abstract
expressionism as well. The angular forms of the Ufa Cinema Center by Coop Himmelb(l)au
recall the abstract geometries of the numbered paintings of Franz Kline, in their unadorned
masses. The UFA Cinema Center also would make a likely setting for the angular figures
depicted in urban German street scenes by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The work of WassilyKandinsky also bears similarities to deconstructivist architecture. His movement into
abstract expressionism and away from figurative work,[10]
is in the same spirit as the
deconstructivist rejection of ornament for geometries.
Several artists in the 1980s and 1990s contributed work that influenced or took part in
deconstructivism. Maya Lin and Rachel Whiteread are two examples. Lin's 1982 project for
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, with its granite slabs severing the ground plane, is one. Its
shard-like form and reduction of content to a minimalist text influenced deconstructivism,
with its sense of fragmentation and emphasis on reading the monument. Lin also
contributed work for Eisenman's Wexner Center. Rachel Whiteread's cast architecturalspaces are another instance where contemporary art is confluent with architecture. Ghost
(1990), an entire living space cast in plaster, solidifying the void, alludes to Derrida's notion
of architectural presence. Gordon Matta-Clark's Building cuts were deconstructed sections
of buildings exhibited in art galleries.
1988 MoMA exhibition
Mark Wigley and Phillip Johnson curated the 1988 Museum of Modern Art exhibition
Deconstructivist architecture, which crystallized the movement, and brought fame and
notoriety to its key practitioners. The architects presented at the exhibition were PeterEisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelblau, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, and
Bernard Tschumi. Mark Wigley wrote the accompanying essay and tried to show a common
thread among the various architects whose work was usually more noted for their
differences.
The projects in this exhibition mark a different sensibility, one in which the dream of pure
form has been disturbed. It is the ability to disturb our thinking about form that makes these
projects deconstructive. The show examines an episode, a point of intersection between
several architects where each constructs an unsettling building by exploiting the hidden
potential of modernism.
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Phillip Johnson and Mark Wigley, excerpt from the MoMA Deconstructivist Architecture
catalog
Computer-aided design
Computer aided design is now an essential tool in most aspects of contemporary
architecture, but the particular nature of deconstructivism makes the use of computers
especially pertinent. Three-dimensional modelling and animation (virtual and physical)
assists in the conception of very complicated spaces, while the ability to link computer
models to manufacturing jigs (CAM - Computer-aided manufacturing) allows the mass
production of subtly different modular elements to be achieved at affordable costs. In
retrospect many early deconstructivist works appear to have been conceived with the aid of
a computer, but were not; Zaha Hadid's sketches for instance. Also, Gehry is noted for
producing many physical models as well as computer models as part of his design process.
Though the computer has made the designing of complex shapes much easier, not
everything that looks odd is "deconstructivist."
Critical responses
Since the publication of Kenneth Frampton's Modern Architecture: A Critical History (first
edition 1980) there has been a keen consciousness of the role of criticism within
architectural theory. Whilst referencing Derrida as a philosophical influence,
deconstructivism can also be seen as having as much a basis in critical theory as the other
major offshoot of postmodernism, critical regionalism. The two aspects of critical theory,
urgency and analysis, are found in deconstructivism. There is a tendency to re-examine and
critique other works or precedents in deconstructivism, and also a tendency to set aestheticissues in the foreground. An example of this is the Wexner Center. Critical Theory, however,
had at its core a critique of capitalism and its excess, and from that respect many of the
works of the Deconstructivists would fail in that regard if only they are made for an elite and
are, as objects, highly expensive, despite whatever critique they may claim to impart on the
conventions of design.
The difference between criticality in deconstructivism and criticality in critical regionalism, is
that critical regionalism reduces the overall level of complexity involved and maintains a
clearer analysis while attempting to reconcile modernist architecture with local differences.
In effect, this leads to a modernist "vernacular." Critical regionalism displays a lack of self-criticism and a utopianism of place. Deconstructivism, meanwhile, maintains a level of self-
criticism, as well as external criticism and tends towards maintaining a level of complexity.
Some architects identified with the movement, notably Frank Gehry, have actively rejected
the classification of their work as deconstructivist.[11]
Critics of deconstructivism see it as a purely formal exercise with little social significance.
Kenneth Frampton finds it "elitist and detached".[12]
Nikos Salingaros calls deconstructivism
a "viral expression" that invades design thinking in order to build destroyed forms; while
curiously similar to both Derrida's and Philip Johnson's descriptions, this is meant as a harsh
condemnation of the entire movement.[13]
Other criticisms are similar to those ofdeconstructivist philosophythat since the act of deconstructivism is not an empirical
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process, it can result in whatever an architect wishes, and it thus suffers from a lack of
consistency. Today there is a sense that the philosophical underpinnings of the beginning of
the movement have been lost, and all that is left is the aesthetic of deconstructivism.[14]
Other criticisms reject the premise that architecture is a language capable of being the
subject of linguistic philosophy, or, if it was a language in the past, critics claim it is no
longer.[5] Others question the wisdom and impact on future generations of an architecture
that rejects the past and presents no clear values as replacements and which often pursues
strategies that are intentionally aggressive to human senses.[5]